1 Bride: On my bed, throughout the night, I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, and did not find him. 2 I will rise up, and I will circle through the city. Through the side streets and thoroughfares, I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, and did not find him. 3 The watchers who guard the city found me: “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?” 4 When I had passed by them a little, I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not release him, until I would bring him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her who bore me. 5 Groom to Chorus: I bind you by oath, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the does and the stags of the open field, not to disturb or awaken the beloved, until she wills. 6 Chorus to Groom: Who is she, who ascends through the desert, like a staff of smoke from the aromatics of myrrh, and frankincense, and every powder of the perfumer? 7 Chorus to Bride: Lo, sixty strong ones, out of all the strongest in Israel, stand watch at the bed of Solomon, 8 all holding swords and well-trained in warfare, each one’s weapon upon his thigh, because of fears in the night. 9 Bride to Chorus: King Solomon made himself a portable throne from the wood of Lebanon. 10 He made its columns of silver, the reclining place of gold, the ascent of purple; the middle he covered well, out of charity for the daughters of Jerusalem. 11 O daughters of Zion, go forth and see king Solomon with the diadem with which his mother crowned him, on the day of his espousal, on the day of the rejoicing of his heart.
Song of Songs · Catholic Public Domain Version
Song of Songs 3 Catholic Public Domain Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (3)
- Esther and Daniel are the Vulgate books (Esther 1–16 with the Greek additions as chapters 10:4–16; Daniel 1–14 with the Song of the Three, Susanna and Bel). Baruch 6 is the Letter of Jeremiah.
- The translator's footnotes, cross-references, chapter summaries and book introductions in the CrossWire module are not shown.
- No imprimatur; single translator.
Cross references (11)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 1 Peter 1:8; Song of Songs 5:6; Song of Songs 1:7; Isaiah 26:9; Isaiah 55:6
- 2 Ephesians 5:14; Romans 13:11; Isaiah 64:7; Proverbs 1:20–21; Psalm 22:1–2
- 3 Song of Songs 5:7; John 20:15; Ezekiel 33:2–9; Isaiah 21:11–12; Isaiah 21:6–8
- 4 Proverbs 8:17; Matthew 7:7; Song of Songs 6:12; Song of Songs 8:2; Proverbs 4:13
- 5 Song of Songs 2:7; Song of Songs 8:4; Micah 4:8
- 6 Song of Songs 8:5; Revelation 12:14; Song of Songs 4:6; Song of Songs 1:13; Isaiah 43:19
- 7 1 Kings 14:27; Hebrews 1:14; 2 Kings 6:17; 1 Samuel 28:2; Song of Songs 1:16
- 8 Psalm 45:3; Ephesians 6:16–18; Psalm 149:5–9; Isaiah 27:3; Nehemiah 4:21–22
- 9 Song of Songs 3:7; 2 Samuel 23:5; Revelation 14:6
- 10 Romans 5:8; Revelation 3:12; Ephesians 3:18–19; Psalm 87:3; Song of Songs 1:5
- 11 Isaiah 62:5; Jeremiah 2:2; Hosea 2:19–20; Psalm 9:14; Revelation 1:7
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… proclaimed by soldiers; and Jesus also must in a figure be crowned by soldiers; so that for this cause the Scripture says in the Canticles, Go forth, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, and look upon King Solomon in the crown wherewith His mother crowned Him.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
On my bed I sought Him by night, I sought Him, and I found Him not.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
It was but a little that I passed from them (that is, from the two Angels), until I found Him Whom my soul loved. I held Him, and would not let Him go.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)